Double Gratitude: Thanksgiving and Dad's Birthday

Next week is Thanksgiving and my father’s 84th birthday. Every few years he is lucky to have a double holiday. Personally, I feel pressure-free since it’s 84. Next year I’ll have to plan something big, but I’ll think twice. Four years ago...

I Volunteer and Dad's COPD Acts Up

My father is quite a storyteller. Had he pursued writing, I’m sure he would have written a great collection of short stories. Over the years, we have learned to nurture our father-daughter relationship. Today, we exchange thoughts, feelings, ...

Dressing Dad: How COPD Takes the Little Things

Whenever we have an outing, mom gives dad an extra 20 minutes to get ready because he needs it. His COPD takes over. and even small activities like putting on clothes, socks, and shoes becomes an overwhelming task. Besides being a bit overweight...

Sandy Surges and Dad's Smoking Urges

When Sandy hit last Monday, we lost power at exactly 9PM. It was restored Friday at 1:30pm. It was quite a scary experience, but being prepared is priceless. I sensed my father’s worry. While he and my mother readied their medicines, flashli...

What Caretakers Need to Know about COPD

I joined a new group on LinkedIn called COPD Disease Management. I asked members for topics they feel are important to share with caretakers. Here’s what they had to say. Jean shares, “I'm a patient, but…families and caretakers ought to know...

Bracing for Hurricane Sandy with COPD

As the news arrived of Sandy visiting the East Coast, and as Mayor Bloomberg and Governors Christie and Cuomo prepared us for a potential 7-10 day power outage, the first question I asked was, “Dad, do you have extra inhalers and mom, do you ha...

A 12 Step Approach to Kicking the Habit

Smoking is an interesting thing. Some people become addicted, like my father, and others, like my mother, used it to relieve stress during tense situations. As a child, my memories of my mother smoking were during really difficult times at h...

Up All Night with COPD

Ever since I moved back home, our day dramas don’t necessarily end by the time we go to sleep. Between mom’s diabetes and dad’s COPD, sadly there are often frequent nights of midnight scares. However, lately, they have minimized – and I, we, ar...

From Marlboro Man to Electronic Cigarette Man

Yes, my father has really stopped smoking. I sometimes call him Carlos Contreras who is Charles Contrary with Contreras being a real Latin surname. I call him this because isn’t interesting that he has stopped smoking now that I blog about ...

Is My Father Getting Enough Oxygen to His Brain?

I don’t know if it’s old age or the effects of COPD - or both - but lately, my father seems less and less…with it, for lack of a better term. In our culture, we have a term, boludo, which is the English equivalent of being aloof. Okay, I’m b...

About the Author

Elizabeth cares for her mother, a diabetic, and for her father, who suffers from COPD. Read more »

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